Tell Me A Story
by badwolf0924
Summary: Harry tells Lily bedtime stories- -"It's the one about your Aunt Hermione, Uncle Ron and I getting zapped into the past, courtesy of a faulty time turner, Rubeus Hagrid and his pink umbrella." Lily's eyes widened at her fathers words and she readied herself for a fantastic story. (CROSSOVERS, first one with Merlin)


**I have literally NO idea what made me think of this story. But it just occurred to me that it might be fun to have crossovers told as a story. Maybe it was the Princess Bride? Maybe it was something else, who knows!**

 **This one is a Merlin Crossover, just so you know. I didn't want to put Merlin in the crossovers, because the other ones may very well be something other than Merlin.**

 **I hope you enjoy!**

 _"It's bedtime, you know what that means!" Lily Potter looked up at her father, her eyes alight with anticipation. Harry sat down next to her bed in a chair he kept there for such an occasion._

 _"Story time?" He asked, pulling out a book from her night stand. It was hand written and very worn, quite obviously had been read a lot. Lily giggled and settled herself under the covers, waiting patiently for her father to begin reading, "What do you want to hear this time, love?"_

 _"Mm, tell me the one about you and uncle Ron facing the giant spiders!" She propped herself up on one arm, her hand raked through her ginger locks and Harry shook his head._

 _"No, too scary for you. It'll give you nightmares." He smiled lovingly down at her, and opened the book, flipping through the pages, "Ah, here's one you haven't heard before."_

 _"What is it!" She exclaimed, Harry smirked, settling himself into the chair._

 _"It's the one about your Aunt Hermione, Uncle Ron and I getting zapped into the past, courtesy of a faulty time turner, Rubeus Hagrid and his pink umbrella." Lily's eyes widened at her fathers words and she readied herself for a fantastic story._

It was a cool autumn day, there was a light breeze rushing through the trees on the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Even the whomping willow seemed to be relaxed by the way the air rushed through it's leaves. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger had just finished up a test in divination and Hermione was already complaining.

"I'm just saying, Trelawney is a loon." She said indignantly, "My ancient runes test was much more trying, I feel I learn more in that class than with crazy lady."

"But you haven't gone to Ancient Runes today." Ron said, the tone of confusion and annoyance in his voice, Hermione huffed, continuing their trek down to Hagrid's.

"Listen, Hermione, if you hate Trelawney so much, why don't you just drop the class?" Harry tried, Hermione snorted defiantly.

"And give her the satisfaction?" She shook her head, "I don't think so." She knocked on Hagrid's door and they heard the tell tale sounds of things breaking as Fang began barking from just behind the door.

"Jus' a minute!" Hagrid shouted and when his door flew open, Fang flew out, jumping on Hermione, and knocking her off of the steps. She screamed and fell, turning just in time to stop her face from hitting the ground, though her torso did and they heard something crack.

"Are you alright?" Ron asked, clearly trying to stop himself laughing.

"I'm fine." Hermione said, still laying on her front. She slid her hands in to her sides and began trying to pick herself up.

"Sounded like something broke." Harry said, a hint of horror in his tone, "Are you sure you're ok?"

"Ah, Fang! Git back!" Hagrid shouted, stepping outside, he rested his pink umbrella against the side of the hut before stepping down the stairs, " 'Ermione, I'm sorry. 'E really don't know what 'e's doin." He helped her up off the ground and she began wiping off her front, which seemed to be covered in a strange substance... It was sand. Harry tilted his head, looking around for the source but found that it seemed to be coming from the small hole in her robes.

"It's fine, Hagrid... We've come to discuss Buckbeak's case." She raised her chin to seem more dignified, though Harry saw her rubbing at the palms of her hands.

"Ye din need ta do that!" Hagrid exclaimed, spreading his arms out as if he were about to embrace all three of them at once. He turned and hurried up the steps, picking up his umbrella along the way. Once they were all inside, he turned, his eyes wet with tears, "Buckbeak'll be really pleased ta know you three din give up on 'im!"

"Yeah I'm sure he'll be right chuffed." Ron mumbled and Hermione elbowed him in the ribs, "Ow." He said, stepping away from her and rubbing at his stomach.

"Hermione... You're bleeding." Harry said, looking at where Hermione's stomach now had small droplets of blood seeping through her robes.

"It's nothing." She laughed nervously, looking around for a rag or something to stop the blood.

"Did that happen when you fell?" Hagrid asked, suddenly very concerned. Hermione scoffed and pulled out a long chain. Harry stared in confusion, as did Ron, as she pulled out a small circular pendant, the glass on it seemed to have been broken, which was most likely the cause for her bleeding.

"Awe, no, Fang broke yer necklace!" Hagrid shouted, pointing his umbrella at her 'necklace.' "Here, let me fix it!"

"That's really not necessary, Hagrid!" She tried, but he was already saying something along the lines of ' _Reparo_.' Though he may have jumbled a couple of letters. Hermione was blasted back into them, the chain somehow became tangled around his and Ron's wrists and as they were trying to free themselves of it, it began spinning, "Oh no!" Hermione shouted, but before Harry could ask what was happening, the world around them turned white.

Harry woke up in a field, Hermione and Ron were next to him. He looked around, unsure of where he was, afraid that they might be outside of the Hogwart's grounds and therefore in danger of being found by Siruis Black.

"Wake up." Harry said, shaking Ron, who snored and mumbled something about dragons eating bogie flavored beans, "Ron!" He sat up suddenly.

"Take that Dementor!" He shouted, and Hermione sat up instantly alarmed, her wand at the ready.

"Where are we?" Harry asked, still observing their surroundings.

"We're in a field." Ron stated, Hermione gave him a look.

"Clearly we're in a field, what's not so clear is where this field is." Hermione huffed, standing up. She looked at her broken necklace and scoffed, "This is _not_ good."

"What is that thing?" Harry asked, walking up to her.

"It's not important." She said, stuffing the necklace into her pocket, "What _is_ important is that we find our way back to the castle."

"True." Harry said, helping Ron stand. They began walking through a forest, and Harry had a dreadful feeling that it wasn't the Forbidden Forest. It was far too light. He could feel magic all around him, it made him want to grab his wand and do some. Though he knew he shouldn't do magic away from the school.

"We're definitely not at Hogwarts anymore." Ron groaned, holding his wand tightly to his chest as if it would be taken from him at any moment.

"Did you hear something?" Hermione asked, her voice sounding panicked, Harry stopped walking and listened; he did indeed hear something, but what it was he couldn't be sure. It sounded like a low rumbling and shouting.

"Centaurs." Harry said, unsure if he was correct, but knowing that it would probably be a bad thing for them to be caught in the middle of a pack of the creatures. Before any of them could ask another question, they saw the source of the rumbling. A large group of horses with men in red capes on their backs came flying through the forest, only when they spotted the three children did they come to a stop, forming a circle around them.

"What are you three doing out here?" One of the men in red capes asked, dismounting his horse. His eyes were kind, his hair shaggy and his face scruffy; Hermione let out a small whimpering noise like she had when she'd first laid eyes on Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Sorry, sir." Harry said stepping forward, "We got lost." He took note of the sword attached to the man's side and stuck his wand back into his robes, Hermione followed suit and Ron did nothing but continue to clutch his wand to his chest, bewildered by the amount of horses around him.

"What were you children doing outside of the city?" The kind man asked, "It's not safe these days, certainly you know that."

"We were..." Harry stumbled over his words, unsure of what to say.

"We had a ball, and it flew over the walls, we came out here to find it and got lost." Hermione spoke up, noticing Harry's lack of talking.

"Very well then, we will take you back." The man smiled.

"We don't know you though, sir..." Hermione said suddenly, "How do we know we can trust you?" The other men on their horses laughed.

"We're knights of Camelot... Of course you can trust us." He replied, the three children continued to stare until the man removed his glove and held out his hand to Hermione, "Sir Gwaine, at your service." Hermione took his hand into hers.

"Hermione Granger." She said, "This is Harry Potter and Ron Weasley."

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, now, let's get you children back into the safety of the city walls before night fall!" He helped Hermione onto his horse, Harry was helped up by a kindly looking gentleman with curly auburn hair and Ron was with a muscular man, his face was impassive. They rode through the trees until they reached the walls of a white city, the castle stood tall and they all gasped; they definitely weren't at Hogwarts anymore.

The knights rode them all the way to the steps of the citadel, helping them off only once they'd reached their destination.

"Now, where are your parents?" Gwaine asked, looking only at Hermione.

"D-dead..." Harry said, it wasn't technically lying if he was the one who said it. Gwaine's face fell, as did the other knights.

"How have you been getting by?" He asked, sorrow taking over his features.

"We just do..." Harry said, Gwaine shook his head, and began ushering them up the stairs.

"Come on, we'll take you to King Arthur." They followed him into the brightly lit building, Hermione looked back at Harry and Ron, something had changed in her expression.

"Yes!" She said, and they furrowed their brows at her.

"What?" Ron asked, "Why are you so happy? Is it because Gwaine cares enough about your well being to-"

"No!" Hermione cut him off, "Because..." She stopped walking and waited for them to catch up, "Don't you see? If there's a King Arthur, and this is Camelot, there must be a _Merlin_."

"Merlin?!" Harry and Ron exclaimed together, Gwaine looked back, confusion dawning on his expression.

"Do you know him?" He asked, Hermione grinned.

"We've only ever read about him." He hurried up the steps and Gwaine began walking again, still clearly confused. They reached the throne room in no time and walked in to find a blond man in a red cape talking with a pale man with dark hair, dressed in a shabby brown coat with a red neckerchief.

"Ah, Sir Gwaine, we've been wondering when you would return, we have a matter to settle, you see, Mer-" He stopped talking when he spotted Harry, Ron and Hermione, "What's that?"

"They're children." Gwaine replied, "Arthur, meet Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weatherby."

"Weasley." Ron groaned, Harry stifled a laugh and Ron nudged him.

"And... Why have you brought these strange children here?" Arthur asked, staring at their robes.

"They were lost in the woods." Gwaine shrugged, "Figured they could use some help."

"So do you..." Arthur stared at them, "Need help?"

"We do." Hermione replied, she then dove into a deep web of lies, but Harry wasn't paying attention, he'd locked eyes with the pale man with dark hair. There was something about the way he was staring at him that told him he was the one who could help them. The man's eyes found Harry's scar, and he seemed to flinch. For a moment Harry was reminded of Tom Riddle, pale complexion, raven hair, piercing eyes; he shook it off and began paying attention to Hermione again.

"So you see, we're orphaned and need to return home." She seemed to have just finished her tall tale and Arthur nodded, his fist resting in front of his mouth, his lips pursed.

"Merlin..." Arthur turned, the three young wizards looked around hopefully and were all surprised, well maybe Harry wasn't, to see the pale man step forward, "What do you think?"

"I think..." Merlin breathed in deeply, looking at the three of them, his eyes lingering on Harry, "They're children, and we should help them."

"Yes, but what if they're druids, or what if they've been sent here by Morgana?" Arthur hissed.

"They're _children_ , Arthur." Merlin urged.

"I assure you, we're not in league with Morgan Le Fay." Hermione said suddenly, they all looked at her.

"Morgana Pendragon is her name." Arthur corrected her, stepping forward, his jaw seemed to clench, "And she is dangerous. She could be controlling you right now without your knowledge."

"But I don't think we've been imperiused." Ron said and everyone stared at him for a moment, the King was taken aback, as if he'd forgotten he was there.

"What?" Harry asked, Ron shrugged.

"Something my dad told me about." He defended, and Hermione growled.

"Look, can you just give us shelter for the night and we'll be gone by morning?" Her tone was more than annoyed, she clearly did not want to be standing in the presence of royalty anymore.

"Of course." Arthur said, seeming to soften, "I would not throw children out onto the street. You can stay in Merlin's chambers." He smiled at Merlin, who scoffed and scrunched up his face at Arthur before he stepped forward and held out a hand, beckoning them all through the doors of the throne room.

They walked in silence for a while, it seemed to Harry like an eternity, but then they finally reached some doors. Merlin pushed them open and they all walked in.

"Oh, Merlin, good, you're back, this leech tank-" An older gentleman stood before them, a vial in one hand and a surprised expression on his face.

"Gaius, this is Harry, Hermione and Ron, they'll be staying with us for the night." Merlin said, heading into the room, sitting at a bench where food was waiting for him.

"Yes, of course." Gaius said, rushing to close the door behind them, "Welcome, children."

"We're thirteen." Ron said, rolling his eyes, "We're hardly children."

"Of course." Gaius said, a smile playing at his lips, "If you're hungry, there's plenty of stew left." At the mention of food, Ron nearly tripped over his feet to get to the table where Merlin was beginning to pour a bowl for him.

"Sorry, I don't mean to be rude..." Harry said suddenly, "But we really need your help." He looked from Gaius to Merlin, "Your help in particular, Merlin."

"My help?" Merlin asked, his spoon full of stew forgotten for the moment, Ron, however, had tucked into his and wasn't stopping for anything.

"Yes, a spell." Hermione chimed in. Gaius nearly fell over, the vial that was in his hand fell to the ground, smashing to bits. Hermione pulled her wand out of her robes, "I'm going to show you that we can be trusted." She said, and before anyone could reply, she pointed her wand at the shards of glass, " _Vialus_ _Reparo._ " She said, and the vial began putting itself back together, she floated it to the table where it came to a rest.

Merlin jumped up from his seat as Gaius was finding his, his hand clutching at his chest as he stared incredulously at Hermione.

"How did you- how do you know... Why are you..." Merlin couldn't seem to formulate a coherent thought, he began pacing in front of them, "My help? Why do you need me? It's very clear that you've got magic, you can do a spell."

"Well, technically we're not supposed to do magic away from school." Hermione said, twisting her hands around her wand, "And we're only third years, hardly as powerful as you."

"Powerful as- what?! How do you know?" He stopped pacing and stared at Harry and Hermione.

"You're the most powerful wizard the world has ever known." Ron said from behind them, his mouth full of food, "Every wizarding family knows about Merlin and Camelot and King Arthur."

"Every muggle family does too." Hermione added, her tone condescending as she sneered at Ron.

"Every what?" Merlin asked, his head tilting at Hermione.

"Muggle, non magic folk." Harry said, "Don't worry, it's a bit confusing at first."

"You..." Merlin said, looking at him, "The power coming off of you, it's so intense, I felt it the moment you walked in the room. It all seems to be radiating from that scar on your head." Harry's hand flew up to his forehead almost instinctively, "Can't you just perform the spell you need?"

"No, like I said, we're third years... It's way beyond our skill level." Hermione said, her tone still full of worry, "We _need_ you."

"We could always try to contact Dumbledore." Ron said, his mouth no longer full, "He's order of Merlin, first class. He's the best wizard we know."

"Yes, but we're thousands of years in the past, Ronald." Hermione said, "How are we going to contact Dumbledore?" Ron shrugged and dropped his head, defeated.

"Order of Merlin?" Merlin asked, "What's that mean?"

"It's an award, for achieving great things in magic." Hermione said, as if it didn't matter, Merlin stood up straighter, breathed in deeply and nodded.

"So..." He began, a small smile playing on his lips, "In the future... They name an award after me? So if a wizard is great, he'd get an award with my name on it?"

"Of course." Ron said, standing up from the table, realizing that Merlin was young and clearly didn't believe in himself, Ron understood the feeling, "Like I said before, you're one of the greatest wizards the world has ever known. Only you can help us... If you can't get us to the future, you can at least help us contact Dumbledore."

"Alright." Merlin said, a new sense of determination running through him, "We'll figure it out." They set to work, Merlin and Gaius rounded up all the books they could and Hermione went through them all with great enthusiasm. It soon occurred to them that she was the quickest reader and they left her to it. Gaius, however, kept helping.

Merlin sat across from Harry and Ron, his fingers tapped against the bench he was sitting on. He noticed Harry's wand and wondered what it was for.

"What's that?" He pointed to the wand.

"It's my wand." Harry said, holding up the long thin piece of wood.

"Why do you have it?" Merlin asked.

"It's for magic." Harry said, "It channels my magic, makes it easier to control."

"May I see it?" Merlin asked, suddenly very keen on the idea of holding one, Harry shrugged and passed it over, a sense of pride in his gut that the first wand Merlin ever held was his.

"Just swish and flick." Ron said, showing him the movement, "It's how you cast a spell."

"Right." Merlin half smiled, holding the wand out in front of him, he pointed it at a glass across the room and did what Ron told him to, though he said nothing. The glass shot up into the air and hit the ceiling where it shattered. Merlin swished again and before the pieces could fall, they'd arranged themselves neatly back into place on top of the table. Merlin passed the wand back to Harry, "That's enough of that, I think I prefer my hands. Much too concentrated when funneled through that." His smile was nervous and he fidgeted with his hands before he finally settled down a few minutes later.

"Aha!" Hermione shouted, some number of hours later, "Found it!"

"Great!" Merlin shot up from his seat, "What do we do?"

"It's really very simple, to communicate with someone in another time, all you have to do is drink the potion specified here and go to sleep... As long as you concentrate on the person with whom you want to communicate before sleeping, you will find them in their dreams." Hermione turned and grinned at all the sullen faced men around her, "What's wrong? This is good news."

"Yes, but who's going to do it?" Harry asked, "Who's going to find Dumbledore in his dreams?"

"Why don't you do it?" Ron asked, "You're his favorite."

"Am not." Harry said.

"I suppose I'll do it." Merlin shrugged, "Just tell me what this Dumbledore man looks like and I'll find him."

"Oh!" Ron exclaimed, digging into his robe pocket, "I think I've got one of his cards." He extracted a purple box and opened it, something hopped out onto the table, no one made any attempt to catch it except for Merlin, who's eyes glowed yellow and the frog was suspended in mid air. He reached out and grabbed it.

"What's this made of?" Merlin looked at it, confused.

"Chocolate." Ron said as if it were obvious, "It's a chocolate frog. Anyway, here." He held out a card with an old man on it, his hair was long and silver, his beard the same, he peered out of the card with piercing blue eyes and half moon spectacles that sat on the middle of his nose.

"Alright." Merlin stared at it, he looked up at the kids, "So let's do this, I think I can find him." He looked back down, but the man was gone, "Woah, where'd he go."

"He'll be back." Harry assured Merlin, "You can't expect him to hang around all day." He smiled at Ron who smiled back, obviously an inside joke had passed between them.

Gaius had the potion ready in no time with a little help from Hermione who insisted it be her because both Harry and Ron were, "Dreadful at potions class."

"It's not my fault Snape hates me." Harry defended himself as Hermione handed the vial of greenish liquid to Merlin. He uncapped the glass and downed the potion in one gulp, it was clearly not very good because he looked disgusted.

"Delicious as ever, Gaius." Merlin joked, he sighed deeply and then turned, "I suppose I'll be sleeping if any of you need me."

"Quite right." Gaius called after him, but Merlin just waved him off and slammed his door shut behind him, "He's always that rude, yes." Gaius answered the unvoiced question Hermoine had asked with a raise of her eyebrows.

"Now all that's left to do, is wait." She said, sitting down finally.

It didn't take long for Merlin to fall into a deep sleep; the world around him faded to gray, just clouds of smoke that eventually formed into scenery. He was standing on the edge of a forest, looking up at a large castle. To his left there was a hut, a large man sat in front of it, his head in his hands, a dog in front of him, licking at his fingers. He seemed to be crying about something, a pink stick of some sort laid on the ground in front of him.

Merlin walked past him, knowing that the castle was where he needed to be; he wasn't sure how he knew, just that something was guiding him there, some unknown force. He walked up a hill, and entered the castle. A few children in robes similar to the ones Harry and the others had been wearing ran past him. They were almost the same, except they had green ties. Merlin paid no attention to them, nor they to him, and he continued on into the school.

Something told him to climb the stairs when he reached them, and he did. He didn't stop until he'd gone up to the seventh floor. In front of him stood two older people, wearing robes as well. One was an older woman, her face stern, her hair in a tight bun; she was talking in hushed tones to another man, his black hair hung like a curtain around his face, and his hooked nose protruded from behind the greasy curtain. His sneer found Merlin, though he knew he wasn't looking at him, because he wasn't really there, but he stopped in his tracks anyway, afraid for a moment that he could be seen.

"Potter, Granger and Weasley missed potions after lunch today." He said to the woman, his lip curled slightly as he spoke, "Any idea where they are?"

"They were at lunch, but I believe they left early to go down to see Hagrid, perhaps you might try there?" The woman replied, her tone held no sympathy for the man and she quickly turned away from him, heading down the corridor to the end where a gargoyle sat against the stone wall. Merlin followed her, understanding that he must go to the statue.

"Hiccough Sweet." She said and the gargoyle turned, revealing a spiraling staircase. Merlin hurried onto it after her and allowed it to take him up to the top where a door sat; she knocked, he followed her in.

"Ah, Minerva, just the person I wanted to see." The man behind the desk spoke to the woman, Minerva, without having looked up.

"Albus, there is something I would like to discuss with you as well. It seems as though Potter, Granger and Weasley skipped Potions this afternoon. Normally I wouldn't think anything of it, but for Miss Granger to have missed a class is extremely rare and with Sirius Black on the loose, I fear the worst." Merlin pulled the card out of his pocket and looked from it to the man sitting behind the desk. It was indeed the same man, Dumbledore, he looked up from behind his half moon spectacles and smiled lightly at Minerva.

"There is no need to fear, Minerva, they have not been snatched by Black. All that's happened is Miss Granger's time turner went a smidgen haywire and with Hagrid's help it accidentally sent them back in time." Dumbledore spoke as if he'd been told the tale already.

"How do you know this?" She asked, voicing Merlin's thoughts exactly.

"It's obvious, isn't it? Why, Merlin is standing behind you." Merlin jumped slightly as Minerva turned and looked right through him, not seeing him.

"He is?" She patted at her hair and straightened up, trying to make herself look more presentable and less like a frazzled professor.

"He is dreaming; it's a simple spell, he's only visible to the one with whom he seeks in this time. I believe he wishes to speak with me." Dumbledore stood from behind his desk and Minerva nodded, bowing slightly in Merlin's general direction and taking her leave. Dumbledore leaned against his desk and smiled at Merlin, "Please, sit." He motioned towards the chair, Merlin took it.

"So you know why I'm here?" He asked, Dumbledore nodded and laughed lightly.

"Indeed I do, and I must say what an honor it is to meet you." He held out a hand and Merlin reached for it, but his hand passed right through Dumbledore's, "Drat, I should have realized we couldn't make contact."

"But I'm sitting on this chair." Merlin said, scowling as he looked down.

"Yes, but that chair has been magically reinforced, it's been in this office for centuries, it wouldn't have survived without a few charms and such." Dumbledore sighed, "So where exactly are my students?"

"They're with Gaius in our chambers in Camelot." Merlin replied, as if that were a simple enough explanation for a man like Dumbledore.

"Shouldn't be too hard to find them." He replied, confirming Merlin's suspicions, "Tell them I will be there shortly after you wake up... I'll let them spend a few extra minutes with you, if that's alright. I'm sure you can impart some wisdom on them and I know that Miss Granger is sure to be loving being immersed in magical history."

"She's actually afraid she might do something to alter it, something about the rules of the time turner." Merlin shrugged and stood up, heading to the exit.

"One more thing, Merlin." Dumbledore said and he turned back, looking at the wizened old wizard behind the large desk, "Do you like my beard? I modeled it after yours. Though obviously at this point in your life, you don't have one." His eyes twinkled, and if Merlin didn't know better, he might have said there was something mischievous about the look.

"I-" Merlin blanched for a moment, before grinning widely, "It's brilliant. Tell me, do most wizards model their beards after my future one, or...?"

"I couldn't possibly tell you that, it might alter the course of history." Dumbledore winked, and with a shake of his head, Merlin headed out of the office and down the stairs, past the gargoyle and he hurried through the school, rushing down the steps and out to the hill, down towards the hut where the man with greasy black hair was yelling at the large sobbing man. Merlin realized it must have been this large man, Hagrid, who was responsible for sending the three students back in time to Camelot. He didn't think the greasy man should be so rude so he halted a moment, his eyes glowed yellow and then he took off again for the line of the forest where he'd first found himself. He turned back briefly before closing his eyes, just in time to see a large pumpkin chasing the greasy haired man back up the hill towards the castle.

Merlin sat up with a gasp, he was drenched in sweat and he had four people crowded around him: Arthur, Harry, Hermione and Ron.

"Arthur!" He started, jumping out of the bed, brushing off his clothes as though he needed to make himself more presentable, though he realized these were his personal hours.

"Nice of you to join us, Merlin." Arthur smiled ruefully, "These children here-"

"Teenagers." Ron interrupted.

"These _teenagers_ have been telling me an interesting story." Arthur rolled his eyes and shifted, Merlin's heart began pounding in his ears as he stared across at Arthur, who didn't continue, obviously wanting Merlin to ask what that story was.

"And what have they been saying?" He asked nervously, looking sideways at the three young wizards.

"I'm glad you asked... Well, first of all, they say they're Wizards-"

"I'm a witch, thank you." Hermione interrupted.

"Right, Wizards and a witch..." Arthur turned a hand to them, as though presenting them, "But that's not the most interesting part of their story-"

"Arthur..." Merlin muttered, but Arthur held up a finger, now beginning to pace.

"Don't interrupt, Merlin... You see what they told me is that you're the greatest Wizard of your time, perhaps of all time... And were surprised to learn that I didn't know that." He stopped pacing and looked at Merlin, all humor gone from his eyes, "Why didn't I know that, Merlin?" He clasped his hands behind his back and stared evenly across at his manservant, waiting patiently for his reply.

"I-uh..." He looked to the others for help, but it was clear they already felt very badly about what they'd done and didn't want to hurt matters further, "Because at first, with Uther... I didn't want to make you choose between me and your father's law, because I know no matter what, I would have been burned in the pyre... And then... Well, I was afraid." He grimaced slightly as he ended his reply and Arthur narrowed his eyes at him, but before he could speak, another voice cut through the room.

"Ah, that wasn't so hard." They all turned rather quickly, Harry turned the quickest because the voice that he heard was that of their savior, to see Dumbledore brushing off his robes and straightening his spectacles, "Found you all rather quickly." He smiled kindly at Harry, Hermione and Ron before looking up at Merlin and Arthur. Arthur's face became livid and he turned to begin yelling at Merlin.

"Who is this! How did he just appear!? One of your wizard friends, Merlin!?" It was obvious he found Dumbledore's sudden presence very intrusive.

"I assure you, Your Highness, that I'm not here to intrude. I'm simply here to pick up my students and be on my way." Dumbledore bowed slightly as he spoke to Arthur, and the action seemed to calm him slightly.

"H-how do you know who I am?" His head snapped back to Merlin, "Has this been your plan all along? Lie about who you were so you could trap me in a room with-"

"Arthur!" Merlin shouted, "Shut up. Do you hear yourself?" Arthur's mouth fell open as he was slightly taken aback.

"What?" He asked, Dumbledore stepped forward and put an arm around Arthur's shoulder, pulling him away from the others. Harry and Merlin watched them nervously as they spoke in hushed tones. Dumbledore handed something to Arthur and he shook his head as he looked at it. But before too long, they both turned around and Dumbledore smiled at the three Gryffindores'.

"Come now, let's leave these two to their kingdom; for it falls upon them to keep it safe from future threats." He held out his hand and inside of it was an old rag of some sort, "Grab a hold, we'll be leaving shortly."

"I didn't know you could make these to travel through time!" Ron exclaimed, being the first to touch the rag. Harry looked back at Arthur before he took a hold of the piece of fabric, noticing that Arthur handed something to Merlin. It looked to him to be a Chocolate Frog card, and then the world started spinning.

 _Harry looked up from the book he was reading and smiled as he saw Lily's eyes were closed. She looked peaceful with her head upon her pillow. He laid the book down on her night stand and got up quietly from his chair, placing a light kiss on her forehead. Then he turned out the light with the deluminator Hermione copied for him and gave to him on his 20th birthday and closed the door behind him. Heading down the hall to his and Ginny's room with a light smile on his face. All was well._

 **I might write more. AND I'M GOING TO END EVERY SINGLE ONE WITH 'ALL WAS WELL' IT WAS GOOD ENOUGH FOR J.K. IT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR MEEEEEE!**

 **Okay, bye!**


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